341mL bottle shared with matt7215 at his place, thanks Matt. Pours a sparkling, bright fizzy yellow with a tiny white head. The aroma on this one was pretty bad, sour apples and rotten malts, seemed well past its prime. But Matt and I couldn’t get over how surprisingly decent the flavour was compared to the aroma. Really nice grainy malt body with some dry prickly hops in the background. Tasty barley husks as well, a lot of what I like in a good lager. To me it’s a very good example of a rough-edged Canadian lager, something Molson Canadian can only ever wish to be. Nicely done despite the smell!

Tap @ Smokeless Joe. Blond pour. Very bready doughy aromas with hints of grassy hops. Smooth mouthfeel. Great bready flavors. Finished with traces of hops and yeast. I would say this beer is grossly underrated. Would make a great session ale.

12oz draught
5.0% ABV
I tried this beer on January 18, 2008 at "Smokeless Joe’s" in Toronto. The beer was a translucent gold colour with a thin white head that quickly disappeared. The aroma was weakly malty. The mouthfeel was medium bodied, creamy, with medium carbonation. The flavour was a little soapy, some spiciness, a little hoppy bitterness, and some chocolatey aftertaste.

341ml bottle. Hazy straw with a thin white head. Aroma is grainy with herbal notes and a bit of apples. Flavor is pale malt, with herbs and a minimal touch of honey. Nice malt profile. Some hop bitterness in the aftertaste. Well made pale lager.

UPDATED: FEB 2, 2006 I was pleasantly surprised to find some of this in bottles direct from the brewery on this past long weekend. I also understand that is was made available to restaurants and pubs in Peterborough over the weekend for the local Lift Lock celebrations as well. This is Church Key’s first lager (under the church key name that I am aware of anyway). It was pretty mainstream stuff – slightly lighter in colour than the Northumberland ale, small head that went away quickly. There really wasn’t too much to report on the aroma, although I picked up some faint bready notes. The beer itself had a great mouthfeel and had a very active carbonation that really worked in this beer. The flavour was standard micro lager – certainly better than a macro, no artificially flavours present at all, but nothing that jumped out at you either. Slight hoppy bite at the end. Decent and drinkable on a warm sunny day and tailor made for the expected Peterborough and Trent Severn Waterway crowd I’m sure. This is the first beer I have ever added, and the only thing that I was not sure on was whether it was a pale lager or premium lager. But hopefully you’ve got an idea as to what it is like. I prefer the Northumberland Ale.

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